Except from small, pure Berber populations in the west and Nubians in the south, the population of Egypt is a mixture of principally Egyptians and Arabs, but also with some Nubian and Berber blood.As Egypt has always been an international country, mixture of races has been going on continually for at least 6,000 years. Hence, it is hard to point to any form of original Egyptian race or races. But we can clearly assume that the amount of Arab blood is quite little compared to the Egyptian, although Arabs had a strong impact on the Egyptians, bringing about a change in their language and cultural identification. Today's Egyptians consider themselves as Arabs, as well as direct descendants of the Ancient Egyptians. Both ideas are correct.Egyptians become gradually darker in skin color the further south one goes in the country, shaped by contact with negroid peoples from the Sudanese area.People belonging to the Coptic church are also slightly different from the rest of the Egyptians in racial terms. The Copts are normally considered as the group that is least mixed with invading peoples, at least since the Muslim era started in 7th century.